The Catholic Church
What pops into my mind once I hear Catholic? For me, it is what I believe in because it is part of my religion. It is what I am and who I should be. One of the four marks or essential characteristics of the Church is being Catholic. This struck me most because according to Matthew 28: 18-20, Catholic means universal or all-embracing. In my view, one of the best features of the Church is that she accepts, understands, and loves each and every one regardless of race, culture and way of living. One can always find in her a blazing unified faith amidst a diverse mankind. She teaches her people how things should be done just as she was taught by Jesus, her founder. She even uses some efforts of inculturation like translating the bible to vernaculars, and the use of paintings, songs and sculptures of her different holy members.

Because of what she is doing, my faith, like a mustard seed, eventually grows bigger; a rose, gradually opening to its full bloom. With the Church’s help, my faith has become stronger and my whole being has become closer with our Creator. Through the translation of the bible into vernaculars, I understood more of what it wants its followers to see. And the use of paintings and sculptures formed images in my mind that may somehow aid the basis of my faith.

However, I know her works cannot fairly be sufficient without the help of her members. So I, as one of her members, want to share in the grandeur of the Church. Attending masses in the community helps, although many consider this as an obligation now, rather than a selfless service of praise and worship to the Lord—since she is universal because the Lord is present in her. Reverence is one too. We must pay respect to the images brought about by the Church in efforts of inculturation among different people. Lastly, proclaiming the scriptures is one—emphasizing on putting the Word of the Lord into practice, because this helps create an atmosphere that will encourage...

YOU MAY ALSO FIND THESE DOCUMENTS HELPFUL

...Fieldwork Paper about My Church Experience
Christianity is a brand new thing for me. In my entire 19 years of life, I haven’t had a lot chance to get involved with any church related activities. I have read it from books, seen it from movies, but I have never experienced what is Christianity all about by myself. From where I grew up, most of the people will claim themselves atheist. Lots of us were convinced that here were no Gods or any spiritual power existed in this world. Although our government will claim that China is a country of religious freedom, such claim really makes me laugh. People should not take Chinese government’s word really seriously. Communist governors are masters of manipulating. They promise us that we can believe in any religion as we wish, as long as it did not involve illegal activity. However, the government keeps indoctrinating Chinese people with all those negative ideas about religious beliefs, especially about Christianity. They make us believe that people who believe in God are maniacs and people who have religious beliefs are not allowed to work for the government. They made us believe that all religions are just people having blind faith. We were raised to believe that all the things in the world can all be explained by science. However, “Is that really the truth?” I asked myself. In case to get more point of views on this question, I think it would be a good idea for me to attend one of the...

...A Critical Interpretation of Hans Kung's Historical Analysis of the Development of the Hierarchical Church
The beginnings of the Christian church are shrouded in mystery. With the lack of evidence about that time in history, it is hard to draw conclusions of any type. However, the historical analyst, Hans Kung, has written a book to shed some light on the subject. In this book, Kung discusses his opinion on the development of the earlychurch, and its hierarchical structure. In the following paper, I will address two of the chapters of Kung's book, "The Beginnings of the Early Church" and "The Early CatholicChurch". The points that I will focus on are: The makeup and persecution of the early church community and why it was that way, and how, according to Kung, the founders of Catholicism went against how Jesus wanted the church to be governed by establishing a hierarchy.
The Christian church, according to Kung, began at Pentecost. When the Holy Spirit came to the apostles and told them to go out and preach the teachings of Jesus it meant that the apostles could claim an identity separate from Judaism. The majority of the first Christians were Jews from Jerusalem that believed that Jesus was the Messiah promised to the Jews in the Hebrew Testament and they believed in the resurrection. "The earliest Christian community did not want in...

...Christopher Larson
Final Reaction Paper: The Crescent and the Cross
In this essay I will discuss the history of the Roman CatholicChurch and its influence on Western Civilization. I will bring an understanding to the beginnings of the Church and bring us to modern day ideals. Along with the history of the CatholicChurch, I will cover some significant events during the middle ages.
To understand the beginnings of theCatholicChurch, it is important to grasp concepts of the foundation of the Catholic religion. Christianity is based on the beliefs and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus was born of Jewish origins in the city of Bethlehem, just south of what is today Jerusalem between 6 B.C. And A.D. 6. He did not believe in following Jewish law, but following moral ethics he established. Jewish culture of Jesus’ day was highly materialistic, and Jesus spoke against materialism and ultimately against aristocracy among Jewish faith. Jesus did not agree to worship emperors or multiple gods as the Romans did. He, like his Jewish origin, professed monotheism, which is the belief in one single god. Although Jesus gained few followers, his teachings were very influential in the formation of the Christian faith. On that note, the culmination of his followings would not have been possible without his followers. One of Jesus’ most influential and prominent apostles is...

...INTRODUCTION
In a meeting with Catholic Educators, on April 17, 2008, His Holiness Benedict XVI articulated that “….education is integral to the mission of the church to proclaim the Good News. First and foremost every Catholic educational institution is a place to encounter the living God who in Christ Jesus reveals his transforming love and truth (c.f. spe.Salvi 4). The Catholic community here has in fact made education one of its highest priorities. This undertaking has not come without great sacrifice. Towering figures like Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton and other founders and foundresses with great tenacity and foresight, laid the foundation of what is today a remarkable network of parochial schools contributing to the spiritual well being of the church and nation..”.
The Catholic school participates in the evangelizing mission of the Church and is the privileged environment in which Christian education is carried out. (The Catholic School on the Threshold of the Third Millennium, n.11). Evangelizing means; bringing the Good News into all strata of humanity, and through its influence, transforms humanity from within and making it new. It involves, but is not restricted to, scripture, prayer, history, liturgical events, homilies, spiritual exercises, theological insights, personal faith sharing, diverse learning experiences and last but not...

...12/8/2012
AP European History
J. Blackwell
Demonology and Exorcisms in the CatholicChurch
Demonology - the systematic study of demons or beliefs about demons; a branch of theology relating to supernatural beings who are not gods. Demonology "Is taught by the demons, it teaches about the demons, and it leads to the demons," as said by St. Albertus Magnus. According to some societies, all the affairs of life are supposed to be under the control of spirits - each ruling a certain "element" or even on object in some cases, and themselves in subjection to a greater spirit. In ancient Babylon, demonology had an influence on even the most mundane elements of life, from petty annoyances to emotions such as love and hatred. The numerous demonic spirits were given charge over various parts of the human body, one for the head, one for the neck, and so on and so forth. Many important figures in society -the Greek philosophers, such as Porphyry and the Fathers of the Christian Church- upheld the belief that spirits were spread throughout and present in the world. They also helped to advance the belief that demons received worship that was directed at pagan gods.
While there are said to be demons among us that are malevolent and wish to do harm and possess us, there are also ways to expel them once they have a host under possession. Exorcism - the expulsion, or attempted expulsion, of devils and demons from their human vessels and host...

...The end of the fifteenth century had left Christendom with a Church in great need of reform. The Church had been greatly weakened by the events of the past few centuries. The fourteenth century’s Great Famine and Black Death had battered the public’s trust in the Church, as had the Papal Schism spanning from 1378-1417. When the ideas of Martin Luther began to spread in the early 1500s, the Church became afraid for its power, its reputation, and its finances. Luther was promising people that they would be saved through their faith alone—what place did that leave for the Church and its teachings? In any other time in human history, Luther’s ideas likely would have been quietly beaten down and buried, but a very unique set of circumstances allowed the ideas of a small-town monk and professor to take on the immense power of the CatholicChurch. While others’ ideas could be ignored, the Church was intensely threatened by Luther because his ideas questioned the role and necessity of their already-weakened institution, called for an end to indulgences, endangered social stability, and exposed the failings of the Church by returning to the Bible as the only source of God’s truth.
Two hundred years before Luther came onto the Church’s radar, the CatholicChurch was enjoying great power and success. The Church...

...﻿
During the 13th and through to the 14th century catholicchurch authorities turned their focus to creating a united religiously bound civilization, acting only upon the fundamental principles of Christianity. The 14th century church enforced religious unity through the inquisition, and was mostly successful in doing so.
The author Christine Caldwell Ames1 showed that the church used the inquisition as a force to create a cohesive religious civilization during the 13th and 14th century. Further evidence of the use of the inquisition to enforce religious uniformity is found in the contemporary account of Bernard Gui, a Dominican inquisitor.2 The Inquisition was operated by a religious order known as the Dominicans, who were a part of the CatholicChurch answerable only to the Pope. “Adopted by the church as one of several responses to heretical movements that emerged in the high Middle Ages, heresy inquisitions authorized bishops, or other papally delegated clerics, to seek out supposed religious deviants and their supporters”. 3 The alternative religions that fell under the term of “religious deviant” was quite vast, the inquisition pursued peoples such as: Cathar’s, Waldensian’s, Jews, and eventually even the Knights Templar, purely to gain supremacy by suppressing what the inquisition defined as “religious deviants”. The historical record...

...life
 Purgatory is a place or state
of suffering inhabited by the
souls of sinners who are
expiating their sins before
going to heaven.
The sale of indulgences
What were Indulgences?

 In Church teaching,
Purgatory is the way in
which God helps us to
“make up” for sin
which has already been
forgiven. Purgatory is
the state or place those
who have still to make
up for sin go to after
death before entering
heaven.
What is the Black Death?

 The black death refers to the plague
that erupted in the middle of the 14th
century.
 The medical term for the black death is
the ‘bubonic plague’. It was mainly
spread by rats.
 It began in the Gobi desert in the 1320s
and it spread from there in every
direction.
 There were population losses in
Europe and among the Asian Nations.
The Black Death’s effect on
Indulgences

In the climate of mass death,
many Christians were eager
to make sure that they were
ready for death, if and when
it came.
This is where Abuse of
Indulgences comes into
context.
Abuses of Indulgences

 A person can buy his way out of hell with indulgences
It is said that the only way to avoid hell is by doing good whilst
still alive.
 A person can buy indulgences for sins not yet committed
The church has never taught that indulgences apply to sins not yet
committed.
 A person can "buy forgiveness" with indulgences
The definition of an indulgence states that...